Arthur To Alice In A Matter Of Seconds
by OhMii2terAmporaOh
Summary: When Arthur Kirkland has had enough of his cheating boyfriend Francis Bonnefoy, he goes to cures him with a love spell, which fails and not only drastically changes his 'self' but changes his perspective of the supposedly annoying Alfred F. Jones. Rated T for language and implied sexual content. FemEngland/EnglandXAmerica
1. Getting It On With Francis Bonnefoy

Walking into Gakuen Hetalia, I had just leaned against my locker when Francis Bonnefoy strutted down the hall as usual. I could feel my cheeks go bright red 'like a tomato' as Antonio Fernandez Carriedo, the exchange student from Spain, would have put it. He passed a quick glance my way and suddenly stopped. I whipped my head in the other direction, causing my neck to crack, and then kept my eyes on the floor. I prayed he didn't see me staring. After a second I assumed it was safe to look up and when I did, I looked up only to see Francis inches away from my face.

Abruptly, he slammed his hands on the lockers behind me, a hand on either side of my head. He brought his knee up to sit comfortably between my legs so that I couldn't move. I struggled, but promptly gave up after it was obvious that my freedom was futile.

"So," he whispered in my ear, "You're the new foreign exchange student from England, right? Arthur Kirkland?" I could practically feel him grin when he hissed my name. My cheeks grew a deep crimson. Antonio would be proud. "Y-yes..." I crocked. I hadn't expected him to actually notice me! I mean, I wasn't as forgettable as that Matthew Williams kid from... Where was it... Canadia? Canada, maybe? Well anyways, I wasn't as forgettable as him, but I wasn't as memorable as others, for example, Francis. "I couldn't help but take interest in you staring at me for the past week, mon ami." Francis chuckled in a deep French accent. I may have forgotten to mention, but everyone at Gakuen High was a foreign exchange student. _Everyone_.

"I wasn't staring at you, bloody frog!" I protested, "I was... Uh, glaring at you..." At that he just chuckled harder. "Oh, is that so? Well, you must have some serious pent up sexual tensions towards me. No?"

My voice cracked in mid whimper, which I didn't even know your voice could do whilst whimpering. I guess that didn't help hide my hard-time crush on the bloke, but thats all I could say... or, uh, whimper...

"It's true!" He snickered, "Ohhonhonhonhon..." He trailed off in his slightly nerving laugh. "Then it's your lucky day, mon amor, for now you will be my lover?" he more stated then asked. "Y-y-y-y-y-y-y..." was what managed to escape me before he mashed his lips against mine. It was hard to breath and he tasted like wine, but I enjoyed everything about that kiss. I would never admit it to Francis,_ ever_, but I LOVED the way his stubbed rubbed against my chin... Guilty pleasure...

After we had snogging for a while, the bell rang to which I had to pray my face away from Francis's. We parted are ways and I dizzily stumbled down the hall, my face as hot as fire. I passed Antonio in the hall and at first he didn't notice the red mass my cheeks had become, but he took a double take and gleamed with pride.

A hot tempered, gold eyed Italian student, who's name I blearily remembered being Lovino Vargas caught a hold of Antonio's gaze and began to string out a long list of unmentionable swears, trying to win back his attention. "Why doesn't your face ever get that red, Lovi?" Antonio gawked, eyes still on me. Promptly, and without a word, Lovino turned toward the poor Spanish fellow and kick him in the crotch. Hard.

As I was entering my classroom, I left Antonio in the fetal position in the middle of the floor, gasping for Lovino not to leave him while he stormed off into another class.

* * *

After a month of being with Francis I had become aware of three things. One; that Francis is great at swooning his lover, Two; that Francis is amazingly kinky in bed, and Three; that Francis is a LYING CHEATING ASS!

Within a week of being with him he had already hit on everyone in the school! Twice! Although, that didn't bother me as much as when we were on our first date and he grabbed a waiters ass. He also managed to look up a waitresses skirt, but I haven't figured out yet how he did it...

After that it was 'sexual harassment' for everyone. Anything that moved was in danger of the wrath of the horny Francis Bonnefoy. The foreign exchange student from Prussia, Gilbert Beilschmidt, Antonio, and Francis had gotten so many complaints about attempted molestation that they were on the verge of expulsion. Most of the complaints had compiled from the kid from Canadia...? Maybe... And that Italian, Lovino. But if it weren't those two that had reported then the complaints usually were Francis related. I even caught him in bed with Eduard von Bock, the guy from Estonia.

And even after all that I never broke it off with him. Every single time all I did was get mad, but I liked him enough (meaning he was good enough in bed) that I never once even threatened to end our relationship.

I never did anything to stop Francis's flirtatious moments with others, even though I knew I should have, but what really pissed me off was when I caught Francis trying to hit on Michelle, the girl from Seychelles, by making fun of my 'imaginary friends'. He told her flying mint bunny wasn't real... FLYING MINT BUNNY IS REAL!

Thats when I most certainly had enough! I couldn't just ask Francis to stop. Only because I knew that confronting him wouldn't actually make him stop. But, maybe if I cast a spell... A curse were he would only have eyes for one guy (preferably me)... That's when I got what I thought was an oh-so brilliant idea to cures Francis Bonnefoy.


	2. Spells For A Cheater

**Sorry for the ridiculously shot chapter . This chapter is more to move the story along than any other so I tried to keep it short and sweet so I could save everything for next chaper. Even though it's short I hope you like it ^.^**

* * *

After school I locked myself in to one of the many an abandon classrooms. All the classrooms were generally empty at this time of day, but there were clubs such as the manga research club and others that took residence in some of the rooms after school.

I dropped my back pack on the ground and pulled out my emergency magic circle chalk and the book of spells I carried around with me everywhere. I had dog eared the pages which I though would be useful in the future, and the day I first saw Francis I made sure to mark the chapter all about love spells and romance remedies. I opened up the book to the beginning of the chapter and began to flip the pages. Most of the spell were kinky _in bed_ spells, which I made sure to keep in the back of my mind for later, but finally I found the spell labeled 'Eyes For Only One'.

It gave a short description on what the spell was used for and the instructions. The instructions, though, where not like normal 'how to set up your chair from Ikea' instructions. There was a picture of a magic circle and a long list of chants to preform, but that was it.

With my hands and knees on the floor and the giant leather book to my side, I began to draw out the circle.

* * *

It felt like ages, but I eventually got the circle complete. Without thinking to check the circle for any mistakes I flipped the lights, closed the blinds, grabbed my book, and positioned myself so that I was towering menacingly over the chalk drawing on the floor. I had liked to believe I looked relatively _bad-ass_, but I'm sure I didn't.

Slowly chanting, the room lit up with an eerie blue/green glow. I soft breeze blew my hair lightly against my cheeks and forehead, and as I chanted faster the wind picked up speed. The glow turned into a blinding light the burned my skin a little, but I chanted faster anyways.

When I let the last world slip off my tongue a force I couldn't see around the light forced me backwards against the nearest wall, and I fell to the floor. When the light dimmed I looked around the room to see if anything had changed. Nope, nothing. All seemed normal and right, so I foolishly assumed everything was perfect and that the spell went swimmingly. I picked myself off the floor and began to clean up, ready to see Francis again. I though about some of the in bed spells that I might need for later now that I had cursed the frog.


	3. Girl's & The Unexpected Alfred F Jones

**Ok, so I made sure to make this chapter far longer than the last! This is where Alfred finally appears X3 So enjoy~ ^.^**

* * *

I blew out the candles, erased the chalk off the floor, and as I drew the blinds I saw my reflection in the window. I looked... different. Distorted even. Shorter, thinner, more feminine... MORE FEMININE?

I raced down the hall only to pass Francis with his arms around Michelle, a perverse glint in his eyes. Obviously the spell hadn't worked, so what exactly did I end up cursing? I burst into the boys bathroom and stood panting in front of one of the mirrors. Staring down at the sink with my hands clutching both sides I debated looking up, scared of what I'd see.

Eventually I gathered the courage to take a peek at myself. For a second I thought I'd see my normal self. Shaggy blond hair and thick eyebrows, but instead my shaggy hair was flat and extended into two golden pony tails at opposite sides of my head. My eyebrows, in all their glory, had vanished into this stripes of hair. Under them my green eyes had become softer and were shrouded by long, thick lashes. For a second I couldn't tell why my eyes looked bigger, until I realized they were under insanely thick glasses. Also, my cheeks were redder and my lips thicker.

I scanned the reflection of my body over. Somehow I'd grown shorter, letting my school uniform become baggy over my limbs. My torso was thinner and curvier then I remembered, and my hands small and petit. A small whimper escaped from my new lips as realization flooded me. "I'M A WOMAN!" I yelped, my voice hitched into a high tone that echoed throughout the bathroom.

Next thing I knew I had sprinted out of the bathroom and was treading down the halls. My legs were shorter and not as strong, but I was still moving at a decent pace. About to turn the corner and run out the front door, I ran into a wall. Or what I had assumed was a wall. It was tall and hard like a wall, but walls didn't glasses and blond hair with a cowlick curl. It just had to be Alfred F. Jones.

A hamburger stuffed his cheeks as he tried desperately to sing something about heroes. Ridiculously large headphones sat at the crown of his head and blared out annoying pop music. He stared down at me as if oblivious to the fact that I had just run into him. That's when I noticed I'd fallen. Swallowing hard, he smiled and beamed, "HIYA! My names Alfred the Hero! What's up?"

"What does it look like?" I snapped, "I'm on the bloody ground, that's what's up! Now help me you git." He stared at me confused for a moment. "What? I cant hear yea' bro!" He yelled. "Wanker." I said, irritated as I got to my feet and tore his earphones from his head. Instead of getting mad he chuckled a little. "Haven't seen you here before! Who're you?"

"I'm Arthur-" I chocked, remembering my new X chromosome. "I'm Arthurs... Cousin... Alice..." I said timidly. I wasn't prepared for someone to be asking questions and was proud of myself for my on-the-spot thinking. "Really? I didn't know Arty had a cous'!" He said whilst suspiciously looking me over, "So you gonna tell me why you're wearing a boys uniform?"

"Uh... Um..." I stuttered, "Maybe I don't want to wear a skirt! What if I like pants more? Is there a bloody problem with that?"

"Haha! Wow, you're even more grumpy than Arty is!" He gave a half smile and handed me his iPod, which was still connected to the earphones I clutched in my hand. "You seriously need to chill," he laughed, "Take my tunes and calm down. You can just give it back to me tomorrow, kay?"

I blinked, astonished. "Uh, ohkay?" I coughed. Alfred was never 'nice' to me, or ever gave his iPod to anyone. "Kay see yea'!" he yelled over his shoulder as he walked away and into a nearby classroom. "W-wait!" I yelled to Alfred, but he had already disappeared. I mumbled to myself as I stared at the iPod, "I don't want to listen to your awful music..."

* * *

After I was safely out of sight and in the confront of my car I decided to flip trough Alfred's playlists. All the songs were just bad-taste-American music, so I went to the artist list. I scrolled down and back up, skimming over rubbish artists. Then after my third round of scrolling, a band caught my eye. I scrolled back up and let my brain process what was on the little bight screen. 'The Beatles' was displayed after a couple of less than great musicians.

_ I'm sure there's like only one song... _I thought as I klick the round, silver button. Over 100 songs showed up, All You Need Is Love at the top. "When did this happen..." I whispered into thin air.

* * *

I drove home listening to as many Beatles songs as I could fit into one car ride. Somehow all my worries seemed to melt at the sound of John Lennon's singing, like they always did.

I had known Alfred for what seemed like my entire life. We had been childhood friends. It didn't really seem possible, since I lived in England and he lived in America, but we were.

Even when we were kids he would always harass me about how I was so uptight and how everything British was 'lame'. I never took him to appreciate anything about Britain. Well now I had something to teas him about when I switched back genders!


	4. Alfred's A Hero For Once

**Hey! Sorry I didn't summit this sooner! I was busy RPing as Sealand on chat ... So nerdy, but so fun ^.^ So anyways, this is the longest chapter so far! And this is where Alice actually 'notices' (you could say) Alfred! Enjoy X3 **

* * *

After a night of searching through my magic book I realized what went wrong. Whilst carelessly scribbling down the circle for the love spell the other day I accidentally mess up one of the markings. I also noticed that the gender bender spell's circle is dangerously close to how you would draw the love spell's circle.

I took the liberty to read over the Gender swapping spell only to figure out that it's a spell that is non recurse-able, meaning you can't un-curse it. I nearly had a bloody heart attack until I read that it's not permanent, but it will loose power and fade slowly over time. The only issue is that the book doesn't tell you how long it is until the spell wears off. It could be within days or within years. I didn't now how well I could pull off being a female for the remainder of my life, so I prayed to my magic friends that it would only be a week or so. Just enough time to be a girl and mess with Francis, but also not have to be the wrong gender for the majority of my youth.

I stayed up all nigh trying to see if there were any loopholes to the non recurse-able gender spell, but it's a damn strait forward spell with no funny business on the side! Damn!

I had to go early into school to look in the lost-and-found to see if there were any girl's uniforms. There weren't. So, I had to bye one form the school. I wasn't pleased that I had to spend a lot of money on a uniform I'd would only be using for a short amount of time (hopefully), but on the bright side once I got my gender back this could be a fun thing to share with Francis. I knew he'd like it.

I walked to my locker with my eyes glued to the floor. My glasses almost coming off every time I looked down, so I constantly had to bring my head up. And every time I did there were nonstop stares. I was self conscious about being a girl. Mostly because I didn't know the proper protocol for being one. I was deadly afraid that if I made eye contact with something they'd be able to see right through me.

It also didn't help that the man I bought the uniform from gave me too small of a skirt. He was the only person at the office when I walked in and as soon as I asked he pulled one out for me. I wanted to book it as fast as possible so I didn't check the size. He seemed nice. He had curly brown hair and was the man that Feliciano Vargas, the paranoid kid from Italy that spent a suspicious amount of time around Ludwig Beilschmidt, the kid from Germany, would call Grandpa.

I had made it to my locker and began to unlock it when I felt someone blow softly into my ear. "GAH!" I jumped and I heard the hard clinking sound of my glasses hitting the floor. "Bonjour! My name is Francis! That's so you know what to scream in bed tonight."

I began to choke violently. "Like hell!" I screamed, but before I could protest more he cut me off. "Now that you know my name, may I have the pleasure of knowing yours?"

"Alice!" I said before I could stop myself. "It's *clears throat* Alice. Not as if it's any importance to you. Now if you'll excuse me I need to go to class." and with that I started to walk the other direction. "Aren't you forgetting something, my sweet?"

My face flushed red with color when I felt an absence of something over the bridge of my nose and eyes. I went to grab my glasses when I saw a blurry image of Francis holding out the outline of a pair of spectacles. "I believe these are yours." he snickered. I grabbed at them, but he swiftly moved his hand. Again, I went for them, but he moved. Again, move. Again, move. Again, move. Until he finally gave up and placed them on my face, to my displeasure.

"Finally..." I mumbled as a 'good bye'. "Not so fast!" I heard a snarky German voice snap from behind me. "Si, we only just got here!" a Spanish voice chimed in. CRAAAAP!

I didn't need to look over my shoulder to see that Gilbert and Antonio had just arrived. Now I knew why Francis was hesitant to give my glasses back. He was stalling. "Wow! Man! You bagged yourself a cute one! Not that the AWESOME ME couldn't do any better! Kesesesesesese!" Gilbert laughed deviously. "Yeah! She's pretty cute! Not like my little Lovi, but close!" Antonio smiled.

"But her chest is a little small..." Gilbert looked down to my chest in phony disappointment, a certain gleam in his scarlet eyes. He probably would have continues to stair if his pet bird, Gilbird, hadn't moved from his head to his shoulder, causing the silver haired man to fawn over his cuteness.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Antonio sing-songed. "I like her breast! They are the perfect size." A light dusting of pink grazed his cheeks. He was the most innocent out of the three and I could tell this made him uncomfortable. If he hadn't just commented on my bust I would've possibly felt some sympathy for him.

"Stop!" I squealed uncomfortably. This is attention I surely did not aspire to. "Well we are just going to have to find out exactly how big her breasts are..." Francis trail off as he placed the palm of his hand on my left breast and squeezed, HARD. "Wow dude! Stop! We don't want to have her file a complaint with the office!" Gilbert said urgently, "The Principal said the next time you get a complaint you're going to be expelled!"

"We need all of the bad touch Trio! So just stop!" Antonio looked flustered, as if he wanted to be anywhere but here. His whole face had turned to fire and he had a sorry look in his eyes that he kept flashing over to me. Actually, I did feel sympathy for the guy.

"Chill out!" laughed Francis, "We're only having a little fun! Ohonhonhon!" I felt his hand linger over the edge of my skirt. "NO!" I screamed and struggled, but Francis was stronger than me, especially when I was a girl.

Then, his hands flew off me. I brought me leg back and was navigating it towards Francis's crotch when I saw Alfred holding the frog by his collar. His expression like thunder. He shot the darkest glare at Francis, no not like daggers, but something more lethal and scarier-sounding. Yes, Alfred shot France a glare of ninja stars. It was terrifying!

"Hey bro not cool!" Alfred boomed, "You're messing with my friend!" His usual peppy voice was replaced with something of poison. Deadly.

"No not messing!" Francis gulped, "Just *voice crack* playing around..." He wiggled in Alfred's grip. "Anyways, she's not all yours! You have to share something as delicious as- OOF"

Alfred cut Francis's sentence in half. He'd brought his arm back and let full force onto the frog's stomach. Leaving him in a panting, wheezing heap on the floor. "He deserved it..." Gilbert whispered to Antonio. "Agreed..." The Spanish boy replied, still staring at Francis.

* * *

Alfred had dragged me away from the quarrel. Leading me down the hall without a word. It was so quite. No one was in the halls anymore. The bells were expected to ring. As stated before, it was so quite. "When did we become friends?" I practically whispered, just to break the silence. "When I met you! Duh!" He had his normal, heroic, peppy voice back, but there was still a slight edge to it.

I was going to fight that we were merely just acquaintances, but I wasn't going to start an argument with the guy that just saved my sorry ass. So I kept to myself. We excited the school, to my surprise. I wasn't quite focused on where he was taking me and I was going, only that I was going with him. I tried to stop Alfred, but he effortlessly dragged me along. His mind was somewhere else.

"Wait where are we going?" I yelped. I could see my breath before me. It was still early morning and the air had yet to heat up. "School starts in three minutes!"

"We're skipping school today!" He said cheerily. I never skipped a day in my life! I made sure to go to every class on time, every day. I sure as hell wasn't going to miss today because he was bored. I yanked at my wrist, which Alfred was latched to. "We can't skip school!" I went into borderline hysterics, "What if it shows on our permanent records! Unhand me!" I yanked at my wrist again.

He stopped and turned around. He didn't look happy, angry, or annoyed. Some emotion that I couldn't tell was hanging on the edges of his face, just peaking out. He was trying so hard to suppress it. He huffed in air and looked in my eyes. "Come with me. Ok?" He said softly. There was something about the way he said it... I followed without a word. My cheeks turned a soft shade of pink. What was this?

After a second of walking in silence again I said barely above a whisper, "Hey Alfred?"

It took him a second to notice I had spoken. "Yeah?" He halted again. I don't know why I was about to say this, or what made me think to say it. I only knew that in a strange way, it fit the moment. I looked to the ground and took a deep breath. "You're... You're my hero..."

He paused all movements. Shock etched his face that then melted into the deepest smile I ever saw him flash. I could tell it took all his strength not to tightly rap his arms around me with full force. Although, instead of killing me by hug, he lightly placed his arms over my waist and leaned down. I could feel his lips move gently over my ear. "Thank you, that's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me..." I lump of emotion lodged itself in my throat. Well, this feeling was new! It hurt a little, but was warming at the same time. I didn't want it to go away. I wish I could hold it in my hands and stair at it to make sure it didn't leave me. But when Alfred pulled away he took that feeling with him. Although, not entirely.

A little while of standing there, and then it was like it never happened. He just started dragging me off to his car. No emotion at all, except for Alfred's heroic one.

My face was neon red and my glasses seemed fogged. He was holding my hand now, not my wrist. That gave me trembles. His hand was so hot.

Why was it so hard to say something that simple to him? And in general WAHT WAS THAT? I'd just have to figure it out later, because we got to his car and he opened the passenger door for me. I got in.


	5. The Rocket-Ship-Castle-Playground

(AN): I am sooooo sorry for anyone who actually reads and follows this fanfic! If anyone's still out there to read this again I'm so sorry! I've been meaning to post, but have been procrastinating... Well I finally got this chapter up and I promise that I'll continue adding chapters (that don't take forever). Sorry again!

* * *

Alfred stuck the key into the ignition of his red Ferrari. The soft sound of the stereo with the volume turned down low buzzed through the car speakers and a pleasant heat started to build up around us. After we had both put on our seat belts, Alfred started backing out of his parking space and headed toward the exit of the school parking lot. Just as we approached the exit I heard the faint sound of the tardy bell going off. My heart hitched in my chest.

This was my first time I had ever ditched, and I was scared. Female or not I was still a student at Gakuen High who had to attend classes, but with Alfred, every time I looked over at him handling the steering wheel, I felt better. In fact, sometimes I would catch myself staring at him and completely forget about school. I would've looked away, embarrassed at myself for staring, but every time I glanced over the reminiscence of that feeling from earlier blossomed in my stomach. Coupled with the fact that Alfred was paying more attention to the road and didn't notice I continued to let my gaze and my mind wander over to him.

Then, I instantly realized something. "Where are we going?"

All he did was sit there cooly and answer, "You'll see, for now just relax and enjoy the music."

And at that he turn up the volume. The song playing I didn't recognize. It was an annoying pop song that was probably very popular at the time, but even if it were a bit irritating it was catchy... I would give it _that_much. Not noticing at first, I became aware that the die hard American sitting next to me was singing along to the song softly. He had this dumb smile on his face, but he looked like he was having fun. Instantaneously, I felt bad and I wish I had known the lyrics. I wanted to sing along too... Wait, I did?

No, I never sang! Not unless it was karaoke and I was completely wasted. Although, today I was ditching school with a kid I thought was absolutely bothersome, and hating to admit it I might be forming feelings for... _Maybe._ So, I decided that I was going to let go and have just a little fun. Only a little.

To begin with I started mumbling the tune to the song as well as I could follow it. I would mumble until the chorus, where I would hum every sentence until the last word, which I would add emphasis too. This ended up sounding something familiar to, "Hmmmm... uhufalalalala, Hmmmmm... _Baby girl_~!" And apparently after a while, I was unconsciously getting louder. I hadn't registered this until I overheard Alfred laughing under his breath. "W-what!" I stammered. And he laughed a bit harder.

"It's just cute how obvious it is that you don't know this song!" He giggled and I flushed.

"S-so what! I want to have fun singing too..." I crossed my arms in front of my chest. A second later I saw him fishing around for something in his pocket with one hand, the other still on the steering wheel. When his hand emerged empty from his pants, I saw him giving me an awkward side glance.

"I forgot that you still have my Ipod! Do you happen to have it on you?"

I had completely forgotten about it. I did still have it and yes I did have it on me. Surprisingly, since I hadn't remembered bringing the little music player with me when I left the house that morning. Weird... I dug the Ipod up from my uniform and handed it to Alfred. "Here." I said, dropping it in his lap. He picked it up, plugged it into the stereo, and handed it back to me. "Pick a song! Any song!"

Taking the small device back, I scrolled through the song lists. I scrolled over the Beatles again and recollected how I found it strange that he had them on his playlist. "So, you have a thing for the Beatles?" I said, making conversation. He replied, "Yeah, they're a great band! Classic!"

"Hmmph," I mused, still a little baffled. "I wouldn't have taken you for someone to like them."

"Why's that?" I heard him interject.

I didn't know. Just knowing Alfred for so long made it seem like he'd be uninterested in anything British. He shunned all things British, and I had come to the conclusion that the Beatles fit into that category... figuring as they are very British. I could tell him that's why. It would make sense after all, but Alfred thought this was one of the few encounters we've ever had so far. Bringing up that I "knew him for years" would probably confuse him, if not slightly creep him out. And so I simply stated, "Just your personality, I guess."

He smiled a bit sheepishly. "Yeah I probably come off as too American sometimes, don't I?"

"You don't know the half of it." I snickered.

"Actually, I have a secret thing for all things British." he remarked, "Weird. I know. It doesn't seem like it, but it's true. I even think that British accents are very sexy!" Stopping himself,he turned to me awkwardly. "Don't tell Arthur..."

Bewildered, I retched a little. Thats what I had _least _expected him to say. I peeked over at him, trying to play off my coughing as a laugh attack. When I did I could swear I saw his face heat up, but it was gone in a blaze. Distracting me from the conversation, Alfred burst out, "So... Uhhh... pick a song!"

I continued to examine the artists list and, of course, chose the Beatles. I knew all their songs by heart and their songs were fun and cheery. I thought why not. Casually going through the list, my finger pressed on the name of one song at random.

"_Here come old flattop, he come grooving up slowly~..._". Come Together blared throughout the car. Both of our faces lit up. This was one of my favorite songs and I could tell it was his favorite too. Instantly, we started singing along in perfect harmony to the funky and smooth groove that was the Beatles.

Ten songs later, after switching through various different artists and genres we both were howling in the most ridiculous singing voices we could muster, "_I DON'T SEE NOTHING WRONG, WITH A LITTLE BUMP N' GRIIIIIINNNNNDDDD~_!". I had to admit that R. Kelly's Bump and Grind was by far one of the most amusing songs to sing, ever.

Alfred and I were hysterically laughing by the time he pulled the car over to the side of the road. Laughing felt odd and, well, fun. I noted that I would have to laugh more, or listen to more R. Kelly.

When we pulled over I regarded that there was nothing here, other than a huge forest. Turning off the ignition, Alfred unbuckled his seatbelt and exited the car. The American walked over to my side and open the door. Before he could say the stereotypical, 'ladies first' I cut in with, "And where the bloody hell are we now?" He grinned innocently and chimed, "Be patient! You'll see!"

Opening my mouth to protest, Alfred quickly said, "Trust me!" So I did... I got out of the car, and without warning his hand was in mine and we were walking through a small clearing in the forest.

Some time had passed during the car ride, and now the sun of early afternoon peaked over the tall trees. The warmth had also settled in and I could no longer see my breath out in front of me. We had first started walking through the forest, then jogging, and then running playfully. Well, Alfred ran playfully as I was dragged along mercilessly. We were still holding hands.

We ran deeper and deeper. The light of the early afternoon starting to fade behind the trees now. I couldn't really see where we were going, all I knew was that we were moving forward, and fast. Different shades of greens and browns blurred my vision as we made our way through. After at least ten minutes of full sprinting, stumbling, and falling, Alfred finally stopped which caused me to run into him at full force. I stumbled backwards landing flat on my ass.

Alfred helped me up after apologizing and I brushed the leaves and twigs off my skirt. Still cleaning my uniform off I asked, "Why did you randomly sto-" I looked up to see and old playground lying in a small clearing of trees. It had two sets of swings that were covered in rust, a slide draped in ivy, and some old monkey bars that looked like if you'd poked them they would surly fall over. I could tell it was supposed to be a rocket ship, but with all of the wear and tear done to it, it looked more like an enchanted castle.  
I stared at it as my jaw hung open. It seemed like one of those places you only heard of in fairy tales, except not as shiny. A place I always begged my magic friends to take me, but they never did. It gave off this feeling of wonder and mischief, and the way the sun cast shadows over the thick rust layer of the playground made it seem even more mysterious.

Something passed over my vision, but I didn't give it much notice. Then, again, something crossed over my vision. "Hey, you ok? C'mon snap out of it," Alfred said as he passed his hand over my face. I couldn't help it, I had to keep staring. I had a feeling that if I blinked or looked away then all of it would just disappear or vanish, and everything that I thought only existed in farfetched stories and little girlsʼ imaginations would just... go. So, I didn't break my stare, didn't blink, didn't even flinch, not until something lodged itself in the back of my throat.

"Blah!" I yelled as I coughed and hacked. "What was that?"

"It was a fly. You were so taken by the sight of my secret hang out spot that you let it right into your mouth. I saw it coming, but I didn't want to disturb the little guy."

I huffed in annoyance. "You could have prevented that!"

"I know, but you weren't responding to my hand in your face, so I thought it would probably bring you back to reality," he said with much added innocence, like a puppy. Still annoyed I uttered, "Fine, I guess thatʼs a good excuse..." One of the

corners of his mouth turned up to that, making the temperature get ten times hotter, or maybe that was just me.

He was _still _holding my hand when he said brightly, "Since this is the first time you've seen the place, lemme show you around!" He tugged me forward. We walked into the clearing and up to the rocket ship. "It's stable, I promise!" He declared as he let go of my hand and hoisted himself up onto the old playground. "Welcome to casa de epic!"

I choked down a giggle and joined him on the rocket-castle-playground-thing. He showed me around, although there wasn't too much to see that you couldn't have already seen at first glance. There was a little more rust and some misplaced bolts on the inside, but nothing extravagant. Although that didn't diminish the feeling of enchantment that appeared to heavily settle over the place. When he was done showing me all the hidden nooks and crannies we sat for a moment, swimming in an overflowing pool of silence. I racked my mind for conversation starters, but I couldn't think of anything. "So why do you come here to 'hang out'?" I said dryly. It wasn't much of a conversation starter, but it would have to do. Not looking over at me, I heard him say.

"It's quiet. It helps me think straight and it feels like there's magic here. Actual magic. You know, not the kind your cousin does! I mean _real_ magic!" If he didn't sound so fond of the place, so lost in his thoughts over it, if he didn't seem so happy to be there, I would have punched him.

Balling my hands into fists I said through clenched teeth, "What he does is real!"

He just laughed and patted my back. "If you say so."

Then, more silence... I felt him grab my hand, _yet again_ and dragged me other to another part of the playground. Alfred walked over to the swings and plopped down onto one. Patting the other he said, "Come sit!" and so I did. For a while we swayed back and forth on our own swings, just talking. Simple conversations that didn't have much meaning, but were interesting none the less. It was pretty much just Alfred telling me about himself. Kind of like a get-to know-you thing of sorts. And although I already new everything about him, I played along.

The small talk lasted a little while and I payed as much attention as I could to it. Although, the rhythmic swaying of the swings, the heat surrounding us, and white noise of the forest had me relaxed. Before I could stop myself I was dozing off. Alfred was still talking and I knew it'd be rude to fall asleep in the middle of this conversation, but I couldn't help myself. I faintly recalled one of the side effects of the spell I dumbly cast on myself was abrupt bursts of drowsiness. I wished I had the strength to faceplam.

"Hey, Alice..." Alfred said, sounding about worried, "Can I tell you something?"

"Shurrr..." I slurred as my head began to loll. "Well," he rubbed the back of his neck nervously, "I know I haven't known you for too long, but I feel like I can trust you! I know it's farfetched, but I swear it's like I've known you for, like, years bra! You're just a cool chick!..."

"Get on with it." I snapped with as much effort as I had. "I just wanted to tell you a secret." he sighed, "I haven't told anyone, because it's about the only person I do really trust. So I cant tell them..."

"Ok..." I was becoming more interested, but more weary as well. "It's about Arthur..." was all I heard before I blacked out.


End file.
